Ed Gein Case File
Case File 1 Ed Gein Ed Gein was an American murderer and body snatcher who exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned trophies and keepsakes from their bones and skin of his victims. Gein later confessed to killing two women,tavern owner Mary Hogan in 1954 and a Plainfield hardware store owner Bernice Worden in 1957. He was given nicknames as The Plainfield Ghoul and The Mad Butcher. Childhood As his name implies Gein committed crimes in the area of Plainfield, Winsconsin and was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin. His parents George Phillip Gein (1873-1940) and Augusta Wilhemine (Lehrke) Gein (1878-1945) were both natives of Winsconsin had two sons Edward (Ed Gein) Theodore Gein (1906-1984) and his older brother Henry George Gein (1901-1944). Augusta despised her husband but the marriage persisted because of the family's religous belief against divorce. A shy effeminate boy Gein became a central target to not only bullies, but classmates and teachers would recall off-putting mannerisms such as random laughing like he was laughing at his own personal jokes and to make matters worse his mother punished him when he tried to make friends. Augusta worked at a local grocery store, but soon bought a small farm on the outskirts of La Crosse which later became their permanent home. Death of family members After the death of their father to a heart attack in 1940 the Gein brothers began working at odd jobs to help with expenses. Both brothers were considered reliable and honest by residents of the community. While both worked as handymen, Ed Gein also frequently babysat for neighbors. He enjoyed babysitting, seeming to relate more to children than relating to adults. As he matured, Henry Gein began to reject his mother's view of the world and worried about his brother's attachment to her. He spoke ill of her around his brother, who responded with shock and hurt. The burn off escaped control and the local fire department was called to extinguish the fire and protect the family farm from flames. At day's end, with the fire under control, the men returned to their homes when it was discovered that Henry had not come in with the others. A searching party, with lanterns and flashlights, searched the burned over area and in the evening, several hours after the search began, found the dead body of Henry Gein lying face down. After his brother's death, Gein lived alone with his mother, who died on December 29, 1945, following a series of strokes. Gein was devastated by her death. Gein remained on the farm, supporting himself with earnings from odd jobs. He boarded up rooms used by his mother, including the upstairs, downstairs parlor, and living room, leaving them untouched. He lived in a small room next to the kitchen. Gein became interested in reading Death Cult magazines and adventure stories. Arrest On November 16, 1957 Plainfield hardware store owner Bernice Worden disappeared and police had reason to suspect Gein had abducted her. Worden's son had told investigators that Gein had been in the store the evening before the disappearance, saying he would return the following morning for a gallon of anti-freeze. A sales slip for a gallon of anti-freeze was the last receipt written by Worden on the morning she disappeared. Upon searching Gein's property, investigators discovered Worden's decapitated body in Geins' shed hung upside down by ropes at her wrists, with a crossbar at her ankles. The torso was dressed out like a deer. She had been shot with a 22-calibue rifle. Mutilations were made after her death. When searching his house authorities found *Four noses *Whole human bones and fragments *Nine mask of human skin *Bowls made from human skulls *Ten female heads with the tops sawn off *Human skin covering seat chairs *Mary Hogan's head in a paper bag *Benice Worden's head in a burlap sack *Nine female vuvlae in a shoebox *A belt made out of female nipples and lips *Skulls on his bedposts *A pair of lips on a draw string for a window shade *A lampshade made from skin from a human face When questioned, Gein told investigators that between 1947 and 1952, he made as many as 40 nocturnal visits to three local graveyards to exhume recently buried bodies while he was in a "daze-like" state. On about 30 of those visits, he said he had come out of the daze while in the cemetery, left the grave in good order, and returned home empty handed. Shortly after his mother's death, Gein had decided he wanted a sex change and began to create a "woman suit" so he could pretend to be a female. Gein's practice of donning the tanned skins of women was described as an "insane transvestite ritual". Gein denied having sex with the bodies he exhumed, explaining, "They smelled too bad." Trial On November 21, 1957, Gein was arriagned on one count of first-degree murder in Waushara County Court, where he entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Found mentally incompetent and thus unfit to stand trial, Gein was sent to the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane (now the Dodge Correctional Institute), a maximum-security facility in Waupun Wisconsin, and later transferred to the Mendota State Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1968, Gein's doctors determined he was sane enough to stand trial. The trial began on November 14, 1968, lasting one week. He was found guilty of first-degree murder by Judge Robert H. Gollmar, but because he was found to be legally insane, he spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital. Death On July 26, 1984, Gein died of respiratory and heart failure due to cancer at the age of 77 in Stovall Hall at the Medota Mental Health Institute. His grave site in the Plainfield cemetery was frequently vandalized over the years souvenir seekers chipped off pieces of his gravestone before the bulk of it was stolen in 2000. The gravestone was recovered in June 2001 near Seattle and is now in a museum in Waushara County. Trivia *Ed inspired the character L'''eatherface ''in ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Norman Bates ''in ''Psycho ''and ''Jame Gumb ''from ''The Silence of the Lambs.'''